The European Union Times |
- Assange Indicates Intent to Help German MPs Investigate NSA Surveillance
- Wesley Clark Calls for Interning “Disloyal Americans”
- Texas sets its own gold-backed bank
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Posted: 21 Jul 2015 02:04 PM PDT
 Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has signaled his readiness to help Germany’s parliamentary panel investigate US National Security Agency spying on German politicians, according to his interview with the magazine Der Spiegel. In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said, among other things, that he is poised and ready to provide assistance to the German parliamentary committee which is investigating the NSA’s activity spying on German politicians. Asked about the Bundestag’s committee of inquiry, Assange said that he “tends to be cynical about such committees because they are normally set up to bury rather than open debate.” At the same time, he added that he is willing to help the panel “find out the truth about US surveillance in Germany.” “If they need a witness I would be happy if they would come here and ask me their questions,” Assange said. He also said that WikiLeaks has fresh “authentic” documents about the NSA surveillance of top German politicians, including Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeir. On the whole, Assange praised the development of his organization, saying that as far as new disclosures are concerned, “we are drowning in material now.” “Economically, the challenge for WikiLeaks is whether we can scale up our income in proportion to the amount of material we have to process,” he said. He touted WikiLeaks as a tough whistleblowing organization to be reckoned with. “This great library built from the courage and sweat of many has had a five-year confrontation with a superpower without losing a single ‘book'”, Assange pointed out, referring to the United States. Asked about whether all his ongoing hardships had changed his political point of view, Assange said that he felt he has not become less radical, even though “it is said that you get less radical as you get older.” The 44-year-old has not left the territory of the Embassy of Ecuador in London for more than two years now. In June 19, 2012, he sought political asylum in Ecuador in order to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is suspected of sexual offenses. The WikiLeaks founder fears that Stockholm could extradite him to the United States, where he faces a protracted prison term or a potential death penalty for the unauthorized publication of the State Department documents; the punishment is stipulated by the US Espionage Act. Source           |
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Posted: 21 Jul 2015 10:55 AM PDT
 Advocates life sentence for people who have not committed a crime. Retired US Army General and the former Supreme Allied Commander of Europe for NATO Wesley Clark advocates rounding up “radicalized” and “disloyal” Americans and putting them in internment camps for the “duration” of the war on terror. “In World War II if someone supported Nazi Germany at the expense of the United States, we didn’t say that was freedom of speech, we put him in a camp, they were prisoners of war,” Clark told MSNBC. The difference is that World War II was a war declared under Article I, Section 8, Clause II of the Constitution whereas the war on terror is undeclared and thus illegal. Clark is in essence advocating a life sentence for people who have not committed a crime but merely engaged in speech — often reprehensible, yet constitutionally protected — the government considers radical and in opposition to its foreign policy. The Bush administration declared the war on terror would last a generation or more. Senior officials with the Obama administration meanwhile have said — when formulating “disposition matrix” to determine how terrorism suspects will be disposed of — they had reached a “broad consensus that such operations are likely to be extended at least another decade” or more. The Edward Snowden “leaks reveal that the war on terror at home continues to grind on, capturing in its dragnet millions of Americans and foreigners, many of them innocent of any crime. The war on terror has become institutionalized, and the domestic costs of this war continue to mount: privacy is being eroded; communications are being monitored; and dissent is being cracked down on. The primary targets of the domestic war on terror continue to be Muslims and Arabs, though it is now clear that the sweep of the domestic war has ensnared millions of other Americans. And there is no end in sight to this domestic juggernaut,” writesAlex Kane. Clark’s remarks reveal the mindset of the upper echelon of government. Those who disagree with the government are now to be rounded up and shut up indefinitely in political internment camps. Mass internment of official enemies on par with Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union is now “on the table” and openly discussed as suspicious attacks and FBI orchestrated and grandstanded terror plots continue to grab headlines and build a reactionary consensus as the designed result of an incessant, decades-long propaganda campaign. Source      |
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Posted: 21 Jul 2015 05:14 AM PDT
 Texas is going to launch its own gold-backed bank. The law on Texas Bullion Depository operation has been already signed by Governor Greg Abbott. Now the State representatives can trade, and make any operations in precious metals. The measure is a real challenge to the Federal Reserve System. About $1 billion of Texas gold will be repatriated from New York. “With the passage of this bill, the Texas Bullion Depository will become the first state-level facility of its kind in the nation, increasing the security and stability of our gold reserves and keeping taxpayer funds from leaving Texas to pay for fees to store gold in facilities outside our state.” The law protects the assets from seizure by the feds or other forces, too. The institution will provide more options to consumers weary of the increasingly troubled traditional banking and monetary system, which is viewed by the public with growing suspicion. While other states have in recent years passed legislation declaring gold and silver to be legal tender, analysts say Texas’ new depository could help supercharge the growing movement for an honest and sensible monetary system founded on real money rather than debt-based paper notes conjured into existence by a private banking cartel. The Federal Reserve notes may be even driven out in the future, as many analysts claim. “This is different than your traditional bank – a traditional bank lends money,” said Texas Representative Giovanni Capriglione, who authored and sponsored the legislation. “Especially if you’re in Greece right now, you know that if you go to the bank, and everybody went to the bank to try to get their deposits out, there’s not enough paper money to cover it. That causes a whole bunch of concerns. What this depository does is, it doesn’t allow that – if there are 5,000 bars of gold in there, there will be 5,000 gold bars there, and you’ll be able to access your deposits directly upon demand.” Not only Texans, but also other states citizens, as well as governments, agencies, entities and businesses will be able to take advantage of the new options. Source     |
